Ottawa park's new public art inspired by wrong Jack Purcell

As part of the rehabilitation of Jack Purcell Park in Centretown, the city has installed 10 funky looking light poles as a nod to the famed badminton player of the same name. Only problem is that Jack Purcell was from Guelph; Ottawa's Jack Purcell was a community volunteer who mended children's hockey sticks in the 1950s and 60s. Photo taken on May 19, 2014.

The funky new public art pieces in Jack Purcell Park that look like giant badminton racquets are a clever way to pay homage to the celebrated world champion.

Purcell was a badminton icon in Canada, winning five consecutive national championships and securing a spot in the Sports Hall of Fame.

Though he died in 1991, his spirit lives on, and Converse sneakers still bear his name.

Purcell is as worthy as any famous Canadian athlete to have something named for him.

The only problem is the Jack Purcell of badminton fame was from Guelph, Ont.; the Jack Purcell for whom the Elgin Street community centre and adjacent park were named after was actually a longtime Ottawa resident known for mending hockey sticks for children in his Centretown neighbourhood.

“I’m sure people are wondering what in heaven’s names are these things,” said Diane Holmes, the Somerset ward councillor.

She suggested it’s possible the architectural company hired to complete the park’s $525,000 makeover — which began last July and is nearly done — did some basic online research, found the stuff about the badminton player and used it as inspiration.

“I think he just Googled ‘Jack Purcell’ and the only thing that comes up is the badminton player,” Holmes said. “The Ottawa-hockey-stick-helper-out-of-kids doesn’t come up on Google.”

The original design actually called for the racquet-shaped light fixtures — which each cost $4,595 — to be strung like real racquets, but that plan was nixed, Holmes added.

Now the structures are supposed to look like futuristic trees. But people strolling through the park recently over the lunch hour weren’t sure what to make of them.

While one man thought the poles look like oversized question marks, another said they reminded him of the goal posts from Harry Potter’s favourite sport, quidditch.

Still another thought it looked like the city paid an artist to bend some metal.

“I’d like to say that I appreciate art, but these don’t say anything about anything to me,” said Richard Jones, gazing up at them.

After hearing the sorry tale of inspiration gone awry, Eric Olmstead had a suggestion for the city: “Maybe we could ship them to Guelph and say, ‘Hey, we’ll trade you something.’”

But Dan Chenier, the general manager of parks, recreation and culture, contends the 10 fixtures aren’t a total screw up. They accomplish what they were intended to — provide an interesting feature at the park’s east and west entrances. And they light up at night.

“A lot of people don’t even think they look like badminton racquets. They think they just look like stylized hooks or just a shape,” he said, adding the intention was not to commemorate Purcell.

A retired postal worker, Ottawa’s Purcell was dubbed “the stick doctor” because of his penchant for repairing broken hockey sticks in the basement of his home on Cartier Avenue, and giving them to neighbourhood children.

He reportedly supplied 175 mended sticks in the 1964-65 season alone, according to documents in the city’s archives.

His stick-mending career began when his own son, Jon, started playing public school hockey in 1955 and eventually expanded to include skate sharpening.

Purcell died in 1966; the community centre that bears his name opened eight years later.

“That was his whole life,” Purcell’s widow, Rita, said at the time. “Children used to come to the front door asking for sticks. We almost never got through a meal.”

Holmes said she wants to install a plaque in the park to tell people about Ottawa’s Jack Purcell.

Jack Purcell, meet Jack Purcell . . .

Name: Jack Purcell

Lived: Unknown to 1966.

Occupation: Postal worker

Claim to fame: Mending hockey sticks and sharpening skates for children in Centretown in the 1950s and 60s

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